RE: [ISN] New Defence Computer Keeps Hackers Out and Secret (fwd)

[Peter Mayne <Peter.Mayne () digital com>]

Not a firewall, but a way of securely "connecting" a classified network to
an unclassified network.

The quote is right: in this kind of environment, a firewall is useless.

The page at http://www.adc.gov.au/news/feature_infosec.html says:

> The other members of the consortium are Compucat, a Canberra-based
> specialist in computer security, and Digital Equipment Corporation
> (Australia), a subsidiary of the US information technology giant.

> The Interactive Link allows a computer operator to open both classified
> and unclassified "windows" simultaneously on the same workstation
> screen, and to import information from the unclassified to the
> classified window, but not the other way around.

(I included the first paragraph so I can take the opportunity to guarantee
that I have nothing to do with it.)

Here's an example:

You're working on a classified network, but you want to be able to browse
the Web. You can have a second system on your desk connected to an
unclassified network, and on to the Internet, but that's clumsy and uses up
space. So, why not run your browser on the unclassified system, but display
it on the classified system (an everyday use for X Windows or SMS remote
control)? If anybody hacks your browser, the only system at risk is the
unclassified one, right? Likewise mail: if your email client is running on
the unclassified system, and only displaying on your classified system, you
can't send classified information, right?

The holes are so obvious I won't start to point them out (as well a bunch of
not so obvious holes), but 'what Vision Abell calls a "data diode" which
allows information to travel one way but not the other' might help out here,
hence the "software and hardware in a modest-sized grey box". Sounds
horrendously complicated, so good for them if it works.

See the links at http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/stindex.htm#S for similar
media releases about Starlight (found using AltaVista).

I have absolutely no involvement in any of this whatsoever, just in case
somebody thinks I'm giving away trade secrets; I've never heard of Vision
Abell before the other day, I don't know how they do it, I've never seen it
in action, etc, etc. I just happen to live here, and I saw the article in
the paper.

PJDM
----
Peter Mayne, Compaq Computer Corporation (Australia), Canberra, ACT
These are my opinions, and have nothing to do with Compaq.
I used to be a Digit, now I'm a Q.